Most Americans consider China an ally of US: Poll

Washington, Jan 31 (ANI): Several issues might have strained bilateral relations between Washington and Beijing, but a latest poll has found that nearly 71.8 percent Americans consider China as an ally of the US or maintained a neutral attitude toward it.

Only 27.3 percent viewed China as an enemy of the United States, the China Daily quoted a survey by the Institute of Arts and Humanities at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in collaboration with Duke University in North Carolina and Indiana University, as saying.

"It is the first time that a Chinese research institute initiated a survey on Americans' impressions of China," Liu Kang, dean of the institute, who led the survey, said.

The poll, conducted from June to November 2010, also found that most respondents consider the US-Sino relationship as important, and added that both the countries share many common interests.

Nearly 60 percent agreed that the US economy would suffer if trade relations were severed with China. Besides, 61 percent of respondents agreed that "China has been influential in world politics" and 77 percent said they expected China's influence to increase over the next 10 years.

However, on being asked about issues between the two countries, 62.7 percent thought the Obama Administration is not "tough enough" on issues concerning China.

The poll also found that 72.5 percent of the respondents disagreed with the statement "China has an appealing popular culture", while only 40.6 percent agreed that China has a rich cultural heritage.

"Chinese people have long been proud of the country's 5,000-year-old civilization, but apparently the Americans did not resonate with us on this," Liu said. (ANI)